About Lorel Clayton:
Lorel and Clayton were teen sweethearts, both born and raised in the Western United States, experiencing everything from the potato fields of Idaho to the alkali flats of Nevada and the fishing boats of Oregon. Clayton has severe dyslexia, but from the moment Lorel read ‘Magician’ aloud to him at age thirteen they began to share magical worlds and dream of writing novels together. Hundreds of books later, and a wedding as well, those shared hours of reading and discussing and laughing as they embellished their favorite stories culminated in the completion of their first manuscript in 1996. It wasn’t very good, and it took many more years and manuscripts until the Eva Thorne series was born. In the meantime, they traveled to Australia in 1997 and never left, finding the sunshine and beaches of “Oz” too irresistible. Lorel tackled a PhD in molecular biology and did cancer research for 15 years before turning to a career in science communication and copywriting. Clayton, still unable to read, learned to deal with his disability and earned a Master’s Degree in Visual Art. He prefers Expressionist painting in acrylics but has recently tackled digital painting, mostly because there’s a hyperactive five-year-old boy running around the house (their gorgeous son who is brilliant and funny and ‘on the spectrum’ as too many kids are these days). Despite having been married for twenty-seven years, they are still madly in love and still writing. As writing partners, they meld logic and creativity, as well as genres. Fantasy, science-fiction, mystery, horror, steampunk, thriller, romance, and the classics—they read them all, and if they can mix them they will. A love of books and writing is their shared passion, and no matter what challenges and amazing experiences life brings, they will face them with a novel in one hand and a keyboard in the other. Look out for more Eva books, children’s fantasy and science fiction on the horizon.
What inspires you to write?
It’s a bit like breathing. It hurts when I stop writing, I get black spots and start to pass out, figuratively speaking. Not that I can’t go weeks without putting words on a page, but as long as I’m working on a plot or doing something writing-related I feel like my life has purpose. I get pretty lost without it.
Tell us about your writing process.
I used to be ‘seat of the pants’ and then realized I’d started half a dozen books and never finished any. I then switched to outlining, plotting based on archetypal story structures, and re-outlining as the story required, with a bit of ‘pantsing’ it in between the dot points. That’s helped enormously. We’ve now completed five novels, although only the latest few are publishable. The others were learning experiences, or could be good with a huge rewrite. I’ve now also learned to embrace rewriting huge chunks of text as needed. A good outline helps reduce the amount of rewriting needed, which is another thing in its favor, but sometimes an outlined bit of story fails on the page and needs to be reassessed. It’s then a domino affect to go backwards and forwards in the novel to integrate the changes.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
I listen to my characters. If a character is fully realized, they do stuff in response to the situations you put them into. The right stuff. It can’t be forced. I usually can’t wait to see what they’ll do. In a way, I get to enjoy the book as a first time reader. Before I go back an edit it with my sane hat on, of course. Sometimes the characters get a bit wacky, and I need to tone them down a bit. It’s like real life, where you don’t always tell the whole story, just the parts other people would be interested in hearing.
What advice would you give other writers?
Stick with it. There are so many years I wish I had back that I wasted not writing. I was busy with university or work or family … there are always excuses. It wasn’t until I was worn out and had no time and no life–working full time at a job with very little respect from management or my peers, dealing with an autistic child who can make a trip to the store like a tour in the Nam and never sleeps at night, feeling like the life had been sucked out of me–it wasn’t until I was on the verge of tears everyday that I remembered I needed to write for myself. It was for me, to keep me sane (and Clayton too– we were both in the same state). Since we’ve gone back to writing, everything else feels manageable. I have something for myself, keeping me fulfilled, and it now gives me the energy to handle everything else. Even if you can only find an hour at 3 am, as I often do, write. It’s worth it.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I’d done the querying thing for years, before my son was born. Looking back on those early manuscripts, it’s no surprise I didn’t get an agent. Finally, when I got back to writing for myself as therapy, I decided that one of those manuscripts really was good enough. We finished a major rewrite of Eva Book 1 and then made a series of plots for future books. I thought about going back to querying–the book was good–but I’d also learned publishing is a business and the Eva books are too niche and eccentric for mainstream. I decided to go straight to self-publishing, but to do it right: a great cover, well edited text…. We’re still working on a few projects with which to approach agents and mainstream publishers, but I’m also loving the self-publishing. I’ve found my inner entrepreneur. It’s been liberating. Beholden to no one but the readers and myself. Self-publishing is extremely rewarding. Hard work, but like anything, worth whatever you put into it.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I think there will be a ‘Google’ of self-published books, helping people sift through the millions of choices to find what they’re looking for. Something needs to be done to level things out. But the genie is out of the bottle as far as self-publishing and self-promoting for authors goes. I think there will (and should) be more teams of authors working together and bringing in the expertise they need to produce the best books possible and promote them–almost mini-self-publishing houses. Not that the big publishers will die, but they need to adapt and do more for writers. They need to pack a marketing punch that backs any author they take on to an extent the independents can’t manage. That will keep them successful and keep authors clamoring to sign (less than ideal) contracts with them.
What do you use?: Co-writer, Beta Readers
What genres do you write?: fantasy, mystery, paranormal, Steampunk, horror, science fiction, children’s
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
Lorel Clayton Home Page Link
Link To Lorel Clayton Page On Amazon
Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
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All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.
